March 12, 2016

Michael Rivero: Why People Embrace Propaganda – “We all LIKE TO THINK that we are brave, heroic individuals, but standing up to corruption has a HEAVY PRICE TAG on it, and most people don’t want to pay that. And worse, most people DON’T WANT TO ADMIT that about themselves • They cling to that propaganda so they can cling to their SELF-DELUSION that they’re a good human being. • Most propaganda is just there to give people who don’t want to think about what’s going on AN EXCUSE not to think about what’s going on

“Well, the people you’re dealing with there, if they’re not somebody’s undercover asset, and we know the FBI has got a network of informants in this country that would make the Stasi [secret police of East Germany] envious.

You still have a lot of Americans who are trapped by their desire to see our nation and our government as good, because then that removes the necessity for them to decide whether they’re going to do something about it.

And it’s a little bit of self-deception, because we all like to think that we are brave, heroic individuals. We see ourselves as the heroes in movies about having the courage to stand up to corruption and injustice. And it’s a pleasant fantasy.

But when you’re actually confronted with injustice and corruption you have to make some very difficult choices, because speaking truth to power, standing up to corruption has a heavy price tag on it. And most people don’t want to pay that.

And worse, most people don’t want to admit that about themselves. And so they will gratefully accept whatever propaganda is being handed out to them, to reassure them that ‘yes, you’re a good person; you’d stand up against injustice. There’s just no reason to do it right now.’

And they cling to that propaganda so they can cling to their self-delusion that they’re a good human being.

That’s why most propaganda isn’t designed to survive critical analysis. Most propaganda is just there to give people who don’t want to think about what’s going on an excuse not to think about what’s going on.”